expand executive power and end racial preferences, speed up execution, welcome religion into the public sphere, and above all, reverse roe v. wade and allow states once again to ban abortion. a big part of the reagan revolution was the arrival of washington of a group of young and committed conservative lawyers who wanted to work in that, on behalf of that agenda, who were two of the best and the brightest of that group? john roberts and samuel alito. 1970 -- in 1985, a memo at the solicitor general's office, alito wrote what can be made of this opportunity to advance the goal of bringing about the eventual overruling of roe v. wade? later that year, applying for a promotion he wrote i am particularly proud of my contribution to recent cases in which the government has argued in the supreme court that the constitution does not protect the right to abortion. samuel alito then, samuel alito now. but republican party of 1980 was not the republican party of today either, and we saw that in reagan's nominations to the supreme court. 1981, potter stewart unexpectedly announced his resignation